Johns told The Oaklandside that the \u201cless lethal\u201d shooting was \u201c\u200aa violation of the law and very clearly a violation of Reverend Batista\u2019s rights to protest and to be free from any kind of physical or bodily harm or intrusion by these officers.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the officers could have given him a verbal order. \u201cInstead,\u201d she said, \u201cthese men who are essentially acting like lawless cowboys just come in, they do whatever they want, don\u2019t have to identify themselves, because there is no oversight within the Department of Homeland Security, and do it with complete impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attack came less than three months before 3,000 Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surged into Minneapolis, sparking weeks of protests. Officers there have routinely fired tear gas into crowds and have sometimes used live ammunition, killing two observers, Ren\u00e9e Good<\/a> and Alex Pretti<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a statement to The Oaklandside<\/a> the week Bautista was attacked, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson claimed protesters at the Alameda County base, where an ICE operation was being staged, \u201cswarmed, attacked, and refused to get out of the way\u201d of CBP trucks, and that officers \u201cprovided ample notice to these individuals to clear the street and used appropriate force to clear the area for the safety of law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n The federal government has six months<\/a> to act on Bautista\u2019s claim; if it\u2019s denied, Johns said she will file a civil complaint on Bautista\u2019s behalf.\u00a0<\/p>\n A complaint to California\u2019s attorney general<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the shooting, The Oaklandside spoke with witnesses and constitutional scholars to better understand what took place and whether the agent\u2019s actions violated the law.\u00a0<\/p>\n Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, told us that federal officers can sometimes be criminally prosecuted for unreasonable conduct, citing a 2001 case, Idaho v. Horiuchi<\/a>, which involved a standoff with officers where three people were killed. In that case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit allowed Idaho\u2019s prosecution of the officers.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that courts should conclude that there is no reasonable need for ICE agents to be wearing masks and never a need for excessive force,\u201d Chemerinsky said. \u201cBeing a federal officer is not a \u2018get out of jail free\u2019 card that excuses all wrongdoing committed while on the job.\u201d<\/p>\n In a conversation this week, Johns said that she has been in discussions with attorneys in Minneapolis and elsewhere about how to file federal claims. Other clergy have been assaulted by federal officers at ICE protests in recent months, and at least one, Rev. David Black, a Presbyterian minister in Chicago<\/a>, has filed suit<\/a>.<\/p>\n In October, a federal judge in Chicago issued a restraining order<\/a> that barred federal agents from using violence or riot control weapons against people, including clergy, unless there is a viable threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johns said she\u2019s spoken with police officers who have been trained in the use of \u201cless lethal\u201d launchers and that so far, all have told her that they\u2019re trained to shoot toward the ground or into the air and away from people. CBP\u2019s use of force policy<\/a> encourages verbal warnings before using less lethal devices and says their use must be \u201cobjectively reasonable and necessary.\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose canisters have a significant ability to severely injure,\u201d Johns noted. \u201cFrankly, I\u2019m genuinely surprised that Reverend Bautista did not have more severe physical injuries from the canister.\u201d She said he had a cut on his chin that appeared to have been caused by the canister hitting his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johns said she\u2019s actively seeking to identify the agent who shot Bautista. She said she submitted an Freedom of Information Act request that the government has not yet responded to; she may pursue a lawsuit to force the release of the records.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re learning through watching these ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents operate is that the obfuscation of their identity is one of the more insidious moves that they make to avoid any kind of accountability,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can\u2019t make a complaint to an agency about an officer\u2019s behavior if you don\u2019t know the name of the officer.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP25251637835565-1600x1067.jpg\")
Rev. David Black of First Presbyterian Church of Chicago speaks during a protest in Chicago\u2019s Daley Plaza, Sept. 8, 2025. Credit: AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster<\/p>\n